Gov. Nikki Haley said Friday that she regretted calling a Charleston newspaper reporter a “little girl” during a syndicated radio talk show -- a comment that critics say was sexist.

In a statement, Haley, the state’s first female governor, again criticized a Charleston Post and Courier reporter’s story, which questioned the results of an economic development trip that Haley and two dozen other state officials took to Paris and Munich in June. The trip cost S.C. taxpayers more than $127,000.

“The story painted a grossly inaccurate picture and was unprofessionally done,” Haley said in a statement. “But my ‘little girl’ comment was inappropriate and I regret that. Everyone can have a bad day. I’ll forgive her bad story, if she’ll forgive my poor choice of words.”